


In Another Life

by CosmicCove



Category: Anime Campaign! (Web Series), Epithet Erased (Cartoon)
Genre: And I have to write him as Sylvie's friend or I'll die, But I mean not a ton, Gen, I want Rick Shades content, IT'S NO LONGER MY FAULT IF YOU GET SPOILED, It gives me a good starting point, It's almost 2am I'm really tired, Most spoilers are Rick and Trixie things but like., SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS!!!!, Spoilers for the finale!!!!!!, This has been on my mind before Rick was shown but like, This is like. My take on what season 2 could be, YOUR WARNING IS RIGHT HERE!!!!, You might want to know a little bit about Anime Campaign for this one, bliss ocean related spoilers, but I think I'm going to continue maybe, like at all, okay I have to add this just in case, there are more that I can't really tag without spoiling it anyways, this was supposed to be a oneshot, totally not canon compliant
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-31
Updated: 2020-02-14
Packaged: 2021-02-25 00:26:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,276
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22046932
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CosmicCove/pseuds/CosmicCove
Summary: Have you ever heard someone's name and remember something that was never in your memory in the first place?AkaAn AU where the Epithet Erased characters begin to remember people they knew in Anime Campaign but never met yet in this world.
Relationships: Maybe implied Yoomtah/Zora (Just a tab bit), Molly Blyndeff & Bellatrix "Trixie" Roughhouse, Molly Blyndeff & Giovanni Potage, Molly Blyndeff & Phoenica "Feenie" Fleecity XV, Phoenica "Feenie" Fleecity XV & Bellatrix "Trixie" Roughhouse, Rick Shades & Sylvester "Sylvie" Ashling, Sylvester "Sylvie" Ashling & Giovanni Potage, Sylvester "Sylvie" Ashling & Molly Blyndeff, Sylvester "Sylvie" Ashling & Molly Blyndeff & Giovanni Potage
Comments: 5
Kudos: 48





	1. I know him!  Or at least, I did!

**Author's Note:**

> I haven't proof read this yet because it's one in the morning. I'll do it after I sleep. I promise. Have some Rick.

There was screaming, his own and three other voices. As the initial shock wore off, he took in his surroundings. Grains of sand crunched under his hands as he held himself up. His purple hair was wet and clinging to his skin. Hell, all of him was wet, and there was a salty taste in his mouth. This was a beach. Did he just wash up here from the ocean? That would explain a lot. The other screams stopped. He looked up at their sources. There girls stood on the beach. One had a stick in her hand, and colorful stars in her fluffy hair. One had on a purple hoodie and tights, and deep pink hair pulled up into lop-sided ponytail. The third girl wore a pastel dress and had long , blond hair pulled back into too impossibly long pigtails. “Who are you?” He tried to asked, but instead he coughed, water pouring out of his mouth. That shouldn’t happen… Little black spots popped up in his vision. “Well, that’s not good,” he thought to himself, falling back onto the sand hard. The girls screamed again as he lost consciousness.  


When he regained consciousness, he was in a hospital bed. The first thing he noticed was that it was easier to breathe than before. He hadn’t even noticed how shallow his breathing had been until it was better. So, there had been water in his lungs. He was certain that was not supposed to happen. He didn’t know how he knew that though. He glanced around the room. The girl with stars in her hair was there, looking out the window with her phone pressed to her ear. He couldn’t help but overhear, against his conscience.  


“Uh-huh. Yeah. The hospit- Yeah. The hospital people said he’s all set and all the water is out of his lungs now. We’re not sure how he managed to survive for so long. We’re thinking maybe he’s not a human, but I guess we’ll only know once he wakes up. Okay. Okay.” She paused. “Our best guess is Ocean Race.”  


Oh, that rings a bell. Ocean Race? That had something to do with him. If he could just remember… But his head was pounding now. Ocean Race, whatever it was, had something to do with him.  


The girl turned around. “Well, maybe we could- Oh! He’s awake!” She paused for a moment, still holding up the phone, but bouncing up and down in excitement as she talked. “Okay, well then, see you guys soon!”  


She hung up the phone and approached him. “Hello! Um… My name is Molly, and I found you on a beach. You came out of the ocean. You were dying- But only a little! And me and my friends, we saved you. They aren’t here right now, but they’re on their way.” Her explanation was crude, but it was enough for him to understand. “What’s your name?” She asked.  


Strangely enough, he could remember that. “Rick. Rick… Something. Oh! Rick Shades.” Wait. Was that his name? Well, it was a name, and he liked it, so it was his name now.  


The girl frowned. “Can you remember anything else? I mean, you seemed to be having trouble with your name.”  


He thought as hard as he could. “No. That’s it,” he admitted, “But when you said Ocean Race earlier, it sounded familiar.”  


“Ocean Race,” Molly said, closing her eyes and nodding, “I knew it. So you’re an Ocean Race? What’s that like?”  


He shrugged. “I don’t remember. Hell, I have no idea what that means right now.”  


She stared at him. “Ocean Race? You know, like, you live underwater. In the ocean. You somehow managed to drown. It’s a rare occurrence with Ocean Race, but it’s not entirely unheard of. You must have gotten cursed or something. It was magic that did it, whatever happened.”  


Magic? Yeah. That made sense. He knew someone with magic, didn’t he? But who? “Sounds about right,” he muttered. If only he could remember more than a name that might be his, but might not be.  


Molly scanned his face, curiosity sparkling in her eyes. "So, you can't remember anything?" She asked.  


"Just my name," Rick answered, "Although when you mention certain things, I get this feeling. Like it's familiar to me, but I don't know why."  


"Whatever spell you got knocked around by, it must have been so pretty powerful stuff."  


"I guess so." Glimpses of memory passed through his brain. It didn't make sense to him. Flashes of lights and loud noises, his own voice echoing gibberish that felt like it was something more. There was a sharp pang of pain in his head. "Uhk," he grunted, squeezing his eyes shut and held his head in his hands.  


"Are you okay, Mr. Shades?" Molly asked, eyes widening in fear, "I can call the doctor in!"  


"No, no, I'm fine," he insisted.  


There was a soft click of a door handle opening, and then the door was thrown open and the room was suddenly full of noisy chatter. "So he is really an Ocean race?" Asked the girl with the blonde hair.  


"How close was he to dying?" Asked the girl in the purple hoodie.  


"What's his name? My guess was Raz. Was I correct?"  


"Did he cough up more water after he was signed in?"  


"Where does he get his clothes? I love them!"  


"Where is he from? Did he live near us?"  


Then simultaneously, the two girls loudly asked, "Why was he drowning if he's an Ocean Race?"  


"Girls, girls, calm down," Molly peeped, "Not all at once. He's still not all there yet. He doesn't even know who you are yet."  


"My name is Trixie," the girl with pink hair and the purple hoodie introduced herself.  


The other girl with the pastel dress and long blonde pigtails introduced herself as "Phoenica, sir. And yours?"  


"Rick," he answered lamely.  


"Uhg, not Raz," Phoenica whispered. He didn't know how to react to that. His expression turned to an insincere smile. "Anyways, how did someone such as yourself nearly drown, sir?"  


"I'm… Not sure," he confessed.  


"What do you mean?" Trixie wondered.  


"He can't remember anything but his name," Molly explained.  


The other two girls thought for a moment. “Isn’t one of your friends a psychologist?” asked Trixie, “Maybe he can help.”  


“Sylvie? That’s a great idea!” Molly agreed, “He’d be able to help with the amnesia, and he just knows what to do in most situations in general.”  


Sylvie…? Had he heard that name before? There had to be something there. An orange hoodie, a scar across the cheek, reddish eyes. Yes. Yes! He did know that boy! “I know him!” he blurted after the realization.  


“You know Sylvie?” Molly asked, giving him a strange look as she abruptly stopped punching Sylvie’s number into her phone.  


“I do! Or at least, I did!” Rick insisted. Oh god, he sounded insane, didn’t he?  


She continued to stared. “Okay,” she drawled, sounding unsure. He didn’t blame her for doubting him. He was beginning to doubt himself. These memories were so vivid, yet so surreal, like remembering something from a time of lucidity within a dream.  


Molly finished typing the number into her phone, and waited for Sylvie to pick up. “Hello?” asked a voice from over the phone. She was close enough for him to hear Sylvie from the other side of the phone.  


“Hey, Sylvie,” He chirped with a smile, “I have a question.”  


“Yeah?”  


“Could your psychology knowledge help with memory loss? Like, Amnesia?”  


He paused, then replied with a cautious, “Yeah, why?”  


“Well, there’s this guy we found in the ocean, and he can’t remember anything, and we were hoping you could help him.”  


“Oh, yeah, I can help.”  


“He says he knows you.”  


There was a pause. “He does?”  


“Maybe he’s one of your patients?” Molly suggested, “Does the name Rick Shades sound familiar.”  


There was silence on the other end. “I’m coming over there now.”  


“You are?” Molly asked, surprised, but Sylvie had already hung up.  


“What was that all about?” Trixie asked.  


Phoenica refuted, “Yes, that was rather rude of him.”  


Molly shook her head. “I don’t think he was being rude. It’s like something freaked him out or something.”  


Oh god. What if he didn’t know this kid and he just scared the hell out of him? What if whatever he knew this kid’s name for was something bad? Rick waited anxiously. Soon, there was a small knock on the door.  


“Sylvie!” Molly hummed with a grin as she walked over to the door. She opened it, and there was a murmur he couldn’t discern from the other side. “Sylvie says that we need to leave the room while he does his therapist things because of laws ‘n stuff.”  


“Oh, okay,” Trixie agreed, following Molly out of the room, and Phoenica following her.  


A boy- Sylvie- stepped into the room. He walked up to Rick. He pulled a business card from his pocket and handed it to him. “Doctor Sylvester Ashling,” He introduced himself, “I’m here to help you with your memories.” Sylvie looked Rick up and down. “But first, who are you? I’ve never seen you before in my life, and I bet you’ve never seen me either, yet when I heard your name, I knew what you looked like. Purple hair, glasses, purple eyes… Not quite how you look right now, but close enough to be highly suspicious.” Sylvie leaned in and hissed, “And I want to know why.”  


Rick gulped. “I will remind you that you’re talking to a man with amnesia,” Rick told him, his voice wavering, “Although… When I heard your name I had a similar experience. Orange hoodie, you’ve got that. But I also remember you having a scar across your cheek; a claw mark. And your eyes are green, not reddish orange. But so close, so similar…” Rick trailed off. “It’s like I knew you…”  


“In another life?” Sylvie asked before he could finish.  


Rick blinked at him. “Y- Yes.”  


“Curious,” Sylvie noted. “I feel no aversion though. Whoever you were, and whoever I was, we must have been friends. I guess.” Sylvie looked down at his shoes, “I hope.”  


“Is everything okay, buddy?” Rick asked.  


Sylvie laughed dryly. “At least I could make friends in some lifetime.”  


Rick was at a loss for words. “Well. Uh. I mean- You seem-”  


“No, enough about me,” Sylvie cut him off, “Let me help you.”  


“Oh. Um. Okay,” Rick agreed. Sylvie launched into some crazy thing about the brain that Rick couldn’t understand, but he didn’t care. There was something about this kid. Memories that were completely unfamiliar to him came vaguely in waves. Sheep and shadows and loneliness and anger and dreams and vengeance. What significance was it all? Maybe he’d never know, but he knew that there was something somewhere out there to begin with, and that’s all that mattered.  


“Does that make sense to you?” Sylvie asked him.  


Oh yeah. He should really be paying attention to the task at hand. But he wasn't going to forget this.


	2. And the Cycle of "Now *I* Have the Amulet!" Continues...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's more plot now! Hurray!

Molly’s hands shook a little bit as she held the phone up for one too many times that day.  


“Hello!” Giovanni’s cheerful voice sounded from the other side of the phone.  


“Giovanni? Could you maybe pick me and Sylvie up?” She asked.  


“Certainly, Beartrap! Just tell me where you and that doofus are.”  


“Um, we’re in the Sweet Jazz City Hospital.”  


“What?” Giovanni screeched. Molly winced and pulled away from the phone for a moment. “Why are you at the hospital!” Giovanni continued.  


Molly squeaked. “We- we found a man passed out on the beach. He was really messed up, so we took him to the hospital!”  


Giovanni paused to think. “Thank goodness you’re safe,” he sighed finally, “I’ll be right over.” A little tone sounded from her phone as he hung up.  


“Thanks,” Molly said blankly into the empty line, and then slipped her phone back into her pocket.  


“Is he coming to get you, dear?” Phoenica asked her.  


“Uh huh,” Molly replied stiffly.  


“I take it your still shaken?”  


Molly nodded.  


“Oh, come here,” Phoenica told her, holding her arms open welcomingly. Molly approached her, and rested her head against Phoenica’s shoulder. Phoenica wrapped Molly up in her arms gently, while Molly just left her own at her sides to dangle. There was a pleasant warmth to the hug.  


“Where’s Trixie?” Molly asked after a moment.  


Phoenica replied, “She’s in the room with that strange man still. Something about her parents not going to be here until real late. And since that therapist friend of your finished his session, he let her back into the room.”  


“Oh, well, that’s good, I think,” Molly commented.  


“I’m here, Beartrap!” Giovanni shouted as he crashed through the doors, “And you too, nerd lord!  


Sylvie sighed as he turned away from a doctor who he had been having a particularly interesting conversation with while she was on break. “Please don’t call me nerd lord.”  


“Only when you stop acting like a total nerd lord, nerd lord!”  


Sylvie stared Giovanni down for a moment, but a small smile crossed his face. “It’s nice to see you too,” he admitted.  


“Hello, Beartrap!” Giovanni greeted, running up to her like an excited puppy, “Oh, and who is your friend here?”  


“Miss Phoenica, sir,” she answered with a curtsy.  


“Woah, she’s weird. Awesome!” Giovanni exclaimed.  


Phoenica huffed, “I am not that weird!”  


“Oh! Sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings!” he quickly amended.  


“In my personal opinion, you both need to work on your people skills,” Molly joked.  


Phoenica chuckled half heartedly.  


“Yes, I suppose you’re right, Beartrap,” Giovanni grinned, ruffling her hair. “Anyways, do you need a ride also?” Giovanni asked Phoenica.  


“No, my father is on his way, and shall be here before a quarter of an hour is up.”  


“Uh. Okay. Cool.”  


Sylvie explained, “She’ll be picked up in fifteen minutes or less.”  


“Ah, thank you Sylvie.”  


Phoenica huffed again. “I don’t need to be translated!”  


“You do for him,” Sylvie told her, “He’s super dumb.”  


“Hey!” Giovanni yelled, bopping sylvie softly on the back of the head as Phoenica burst into a fit of dainty giggles.  


“Get in the car,” Giovanni grumbled.  


“Fine.”  


Molly followed Sylvie out. “I’m not dumb, okay?” Giovanni clarified, and then turned and began to walk out the door after the two. At the last minute he turned back to her, “And call Molly if your dad doesn’t show up or something.”  


“Why would my father not arrive?” She asked.  


Giovanni shrugged. “I dunno.” As he walked out, he realized that not everyone had that same experience of being forgotten. All the times he’d picked up Molly, or his minions. Or when he himself, at times, needed to be picked up.  


Phoenica’s phone buzzed in her pocket. She pulled it out. A text from her dad said, “Be there in two minutes. Be ready.”  


“Okay,” she texted back. She popped into the Room where Rick and Trixie were. “Oh, Trixie, dear, I’ll be leaving soon. I suppose I should tell you, that nice young man that drives Molly everywhere says that if need be, you may call Molly, and she’ll send the message through.”  


Trixie nodded in understanding.  


“Those nasty spirits aren’t bothering you, are they?” Phoenica asked, her voice full of sympathy.  


“It’s a hospital, Phoenica,” Trixie pointed out, “People die here. Of course there are ghosts everywhere.”  


“Oh, well, I hope they go away.” Phoenica’s phone buzzed again. “I must be leaving now,” Phoenica informed her friend.  


“See ya, Feenie.”  


“I shall see you again as well.”  


Phoenica closed the door politely behind her. Rick turned to Trixie in surprise. “Ghosts?”  


Trixie looked down at her feet and said nothing.  


“Aw, don’t be like that,” he told her, “You were talking to me just fine a few seconds ago.”  


“You wouldn’t believe me.”  


“Won’t I?”  


She sighed. “I can see ghosts, alright? There! I bet you think I sound ridiculous!”  


Rick chuckled. “No, I believe you perfectly.”  


“Really?” she asked, her eyes wide with excitement. How long had see been keeping that to herself in fear that she’d be made a laughingstock? How long had she gone with nobody believing her? No, he simply would not allow that.  


“Here, how about you tell me all about it?”  


“Really?” she repeated, somehow even more excited. She plopped down on the side of the unoccupied bed next to him. “Well, it’s been going on for my whole life. When I was real little, I thought they were my friends, but it got really spooky after I noticed that no one else could see them. So I told my parents, and my brothers and sisters, but they never believed me. Suddenly, I was the kid that faked things for attention, but I swear I never was that kid! I can just see ghosts and they never leave me alone. I’m not inscribed or anything, I looked up every ghost related word in the dictionary. I googled stuff, you know? Nothing! I just see ghosts for no reason!”  


Rick thought about her words for a moment. “You know, with all the strange things in the world, it doesn’t make sense to not believe you.”  


“Well, no offense Mr. Shades, but you don’t remember anything properly, so what do you know about the supernatural aspects of the world.”  


“I can’t recall any off the top of my head, but their are plenty. I know that much.”  


“Can you maybe try and remember just one?”  


“Not without getting a headache.” He chuckled at his own misfortune. “Trust me, kiddo. There’s a lot out there. I know it.”  


“So you know it, but you don’t?” Trixie asked skeptically.  


He smile. “Yeah. It’s a hunch.”  


“A hunch?”  


He explained, “It’s been happening ever since I lost my memory. Whenever something feels right but I can’t think of a reason for it to, I assume it’s correct.”  


“That makes sense, I guess.”  


“So why did you stay here instead of going with your friends?” he asked.  


“My parents won’t be able to get me until around five.”  


“Oh. Well, at least we’ll be able to keep each other company.”  


A doctor walked in. They looked down at their papers. “Mr. Rick Shades. You arrived this morning showing signs of near-drowning and are experiencing symptoms of amnesia. Correct?”  


“So I've been told,” Rick answered.  


“We are going to run some additional tests. Come with me, sir.”  


Rick got up, wincing at the pain. The doctor lead him out into the hall way, and Trixie tagged along.  


The doctor looked at her. “Little girl, by discretion of our patient I must ask you not to follow us.”  


“No,” Rick intervened, “She’s coming too.”  


The doctor glanced at him. “Very well,” they relented.  


“Yay!” Trixie squealed, running up to rick and clasping his hand in both of hers.  


The doctor looked from her to him. “Yours?” they asked.  


“No, a friend,” Rick answered.  


“Ah, your friend’s kid. I see.”  


Rick didn't feel like correcting him and explaining the whole mess of how she'd found him on the beach. Trixie apparently felt the same, since she didn’t correct him either. Although, now that he though about it, it did make since that the doctor might think that she was his kid. They seemed to have that kind of dynamic so far, and he didn’t mind looking after her for the day.  


\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  


Molly and Sylvie were mostly silent for most of the ride. The former was still shaken that she had found an almost-dead man on the beach, the latter still shaken from said man knowing him without actually knowing him. “God, the conversation is dead,” Giovanni noted, “Tell me about the poor shmuck that got landed in the hospital.”  


“Well, his name was Rick Shades, and he has some form of amnesia now. Also, he almost died. There was a ton of water in his lungs,” Molly explained slowly.  


“Rick Shades, huh?” Giovanni laughed, “That sounds fake. He sounds like he tells you that so you won’t be able to report him to the cops.”  


“Well, I doubt he’d lie with amnesia,” Molly pointed out, “He wouldn’t even remember being a bad guy.”  


Giovanni chuckled. “I wasn’t saying he was a criminal. He just gives this vibe.”  


“I guess.”  


“What else is there about him? Purple hair or something?” Giovanni joked.  


“Yeah, actually,” Molly matter-of-factly stated, “Oh, and he knows Sylvie?”  


“Really? Sylvie, you knew that guy?” Giovanni asked shocked, “I’m sorry you’re buddy is in the hospital, bro.”  


“No, you see, that’s the thing,” Sylvie told him, “I’ve never met the man in my life.”  


Giovanni was silent for a moment. “What?” he growled lowly.  


Sylvie’s eye went wide. “No, no! He’s not a creep, he just- There was something. It was weird. When I heard his name, it felt familiar. I felt like I could visualize him somehow. And it was the same for him too, apparently.”  


Giovanni hummed in thought. “That’s kinda cool. It’s like a past life thing!”  


“I don’t really believe in past lives and things like that,” Sylvie admitted, “But now, well. I guess anything could be possible.”  


“In a world full of magic, who knows!” Giovanni pointed out.  


“Truth is usually stranger than fiction,” Molly added.  


“Well, magic, past life, whatever,” Sylvie shrugged, “It happened somehow.”  


The car slowed to a stop. “Molly, this is your place,” Giovanni told her.  


“Thanks for the ride, Boss,” Molly said, giving him an tight hug and then slipping out of the car. He waved to her as she walked into the toy store. She waved back at him before she stepped into the toy store. Her retreating figure was barely visible from behind the glass within the dark store, and soon she had gone so far into it she couldn’t be seen at all.  


“Can I get in the front seat now?” Sylvie whined.  


“Nerd lords get the back seat,” Giovanni told him curtly.  


Sylvie cocked his head to the side, as to seem adorable. “What about nerd lords that you like?”  


“Nope.”  


“Please?”  


Giovanni sighed, but didn’t answer. After a pause, he said, “Sylvie, something about that guy gives me a bad feeling.”  


Sylvie asked, “How so?”  


Giovanni shrugged. “I mean, I don’t think he wants to hurt anybody but…” He lowered his voice after a moment of hesitation, “He seems dangerous to me.”  


“Dangerous?” Sylvie could almost laugh, “That guy is completely clueless. I had a small session with him. It seems as he was just as oblivious before he got amnesia just from his mannerisms. In fact, all of him seems to just scream oblivious. There’s no way someone like him could be dangerous. “  


Giovanni hummed uneasily, but didn’t pursue the subject further.  


“What did you do today?” Sylvie asked.  


“Nothing,” Giovanni replied dryly.  


Sylvie huffed. “I highly doubt that. The Giovanni I know never has a boring day.”  


“Fine. Me and my buddies were looking into crime things,” Giovanni explained, “But not our own crimes for once. You remember that amulet from the museum? The one I had, but then lost?”  


Sylvie shivered. “I remember all too well.”  


“Well, turned out some cop got her hands on it, and so I thought, well there it is! I could steal it back!”  


“Steal from the cops? Are you kidding me?” Sylvie scoffed, “Giovanni, I cannot afford to bail you out of jail again! Especially something that hefty.”  


“I’m not asking you to. I didn’t even ask you to last time,” Giovanni reminded him, “Besides, we can’t anymore.”  


“Oh?”  


“Early this morning, someone else stole the amulet.”  


“What?” Sylvie screeched, sounding a little too stressed out.  


Giovanni nodded gravely. “Some news article said that the suspect was largely unseen, but they seemed to have some kind of control over electricity. The authorities aren’t exactly sure what epithet this person could possibly have right now, if they even have one. Could be some weird form of magic.”  


“I guess,” Sylvie muttered, preoccupied.  


“Is everything all right?”  


“It’s nothing. Just…”  


“Just?”  


“I’m scared,” Sylvie admitted.  


Giovanni stared at him, dumbfounded. “Scared? Sylvie, I’ve never seen you afraid of anything in your life.”  


“I don’t like the thought of that amulet out there, Gio. It’s too dangerous. It- It hurt.”  


Giovanni hadn’t seen Mera take away Sylvie epithet, but he had heard what happened from Molly. Giovanni assured him, “I won’t let anything happen to you or Molly. I can personally assure you that you will never lose your epithet ever again, or my name isn’t Giovanni Potage!”  


Sylvie smiled weakly. “I appreciate it.”  


“Oh. We’re here,” Giovanni noted, parking against the sidewalk beside the apartment building.  


“Thank you,” Sylvie sighed, sliding out of the car.  


Giovanni watched until he saw Sylvie walk through the doors of the building before he drove off. He always needed to make sure they got in okay. He once read online that even the short walk from the car to your home is still enough for someone to get snatched up, and even though he knew you can’t trust everything you read on the internet, he was a little too spooked by it to ignore it. Now he needed to return home. His mom needed the car for yoga night. He still hated yoga night, but there was nothing he could do to convince her not to.  


\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  


“So, how did it go?” the almost threateningly cheerful yet smooth voice boomed from the screen before Yoomtah.  


“I suppose you can say it all went according to plan,” she replied with a genuine and chilling grin. She pulled out a necklace, chain golden, a green crystal outlined with a similar golden lining, little copy cat ears peeking out on the top. The arsene amulet.  


“And what of our future new recruit?”  


“Things have already been set in motion. Soon, he will join the ranks of Bliss Ocean, and he won’t even know any better.”  


The man behind the screen laughed a laugh that sounded too kind to be evil, which is exactly why it was so cleverly devious. No one suspects such hatred from someone so seemingly nice. “Excellent.”  


“And I suppose this means that Zora will be joining us again?”  


“You will complete your mission on your own. Zora’s incompetence in her last mission has left her… Less that desirable in these present missions. She will be called back when I find fit.”  


“Aw, but I miss her!”  


“As we all do. But for now, you shall follow as planned.”  


“Understood.” The small amount of illumination in the room faded, leaving only the deep red and orange light of the sunset to light the room. It would be pretty if it weren’t for the unsettled feeling in the pit of her stomach. Yoomtah turned to the boy seated near the screen.  


“You know he’ll forgive her eventually,” the boy told her, “That’s just how he is.”  


“Yeah, whatever. You always take his side,” Yoomtah grumbled.  


The boy rolled his eyes, which was impossible to see behind his shades, but Yoomtah could always tell when he did from the little bob of his head. “I mean, of course I take his side. He’s kind of our boss?”  


“You still always side with him…” Yoomtah pouted.  


He sighed. “You know, she really needed a break anyways. Her failure didn’t just hurt her career, it wounded her pride. You know how important this is to her. She needs some time to recuperate.”  


“I suppose you right,” Yoomtah relented, “Come on, Moot. We have work to do.”  


“I thought I did everything I was assigned already!” he whined.  


Yoomtah groaned in frustration. “Fine! I’ll do it myself!” She stormed out of the room.  


Moot jumped up. “Wait! I can still help though! Yoomtah!” he shouted, running after her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I won't spoil anything about Bliss Ocean even though this is tagged as an Anime Campaign fic. Most of my knowledge of AC came from the wiki, as unfortunately I never was able to watch it firsthand. The wiki is quickly becoming unreliable because of rampant vandalism anyways (And no, "Jello would probably want me to" is not a valid excuse to vandalize the wiki. It was made by fan for fans, not by Jello. I don't think he'd appreciate you destroying others' work in his name, tbh. Don't even argue with me about this, I will block you.) and some things I don't want spoiled for me. I would appreciate it if people wouldn't discuss spoiler heavy things in the comments for now either. If you want to discuss things from AC with me, just tell me so and I will find a way to contact you not on AO3. :)


	3. A Twelve Year Old and a Man with No Memories Try to Navigate a City

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The title is the summary but it's sillier than the actual story and also there's more Yoomtah things too. Also, fair warning, I think this probably should have a spoiler warning regarding Trixie. I mean, there's already been spoilers, and they've already been tagged, but ya know... The Fandom has been up and arms about spoilers lately.......

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reminder: I'm writing this primarily for fans of both Anime Campaign and Epithet Erased, but people who are fans of only one may read. This is packed with spoilers for the new characters. Sorry, it's what I want to write. Please don't try and call me out for spoiling things, the warnings are everywhere, I have made it explicitly clear there are spoilers. This is even tagged as an AC fic. I have seen the backlash AC fans have been getting for wanting a space to talk about the show they enjoy because EE fans have been going into their spaces and then complaining that they spoiled it for them in places specifically marked as spoiler territory, and even Jello seems to have turned his back on his own fans, supporting the backlash that AC fans are getting. Please don't do that to this fic. This isn't a call out. I'm scared. So please don't drag me into it. Thank you for reading this, and I hope the rest of your day goes well, whether you decide to keep reading or not. :)

“Mr. Shades? You don’t have to stay here waiting with me, honest,” Trixie repeated for the twentieth time that night.  


“And leave a girl your age here alone? Not a chance,” Rick Shades answered her once again, “I’m sure your parents will be here soon.” He hadn't expected the hospital to let him go so soon. Leaving Trixie alone didn’t feel right, he meant that, but he also wasn’t ready to admit that he had no where to go, no idea how to get home, or where home was, or if he even had one.  


Trixie sighed. “I guess they got held up at work again. It happens.”  


“Maybe you should check up on them?”  


“My phone’s dead.”  


“I’m sure one of the doctors will let you use their phone.”  


“My parents don’t answer outside calls.”  


“What about-”  


“It doesn’t matter, okay?” Trixie shouted.  


Rick shrunk back in shock at her tone. Softly, he asked, “Do you want to go home now?”  


Slowly she nodded. “I’m so tired,” she sighed.  


“I can take you.”  


“Do you have a car?” She felt quite silly after having asked the question, though. They had found him barely alive on the beach just that morning. He probably didn’t know if he had a car, and he certainly wouldn't know where it was now if he did. By this time, if it were parked anywhere besides a house, it probably would have been towed. And then, of course, there’s also the fact that he was from the ocean, and cars don't quite work under water.  


Predictably, he answered, “No.” To her surprise, he added, “But I’m willing to walk you home.”  


“In that?” she asked, gesturing to his jacket, “Even with the nice weather we’ve been having, the nights here get awfully cold, and the sun is already going down. Walking home will take a long time.”  


Rick thought for a moment. “I don’t mind the cold.”  


“What if my parents come to pick me up and I’m not here?”  


“What if they don’t?”  


It was the thing she’d been avoiding but had been eating at her from the back of her mind. It wouldn’t be the first time, nor would it be the last. It wasn’t that her parents didn’t care, it’s that there was always too much going on at once all the time. The day too busy, or her and her siblings too hard to keep track of (and boy there were a lot of them, she knew it), or something or other popped up and she was out of their minds, replaced by some other preoccupation. Her parents worked hard to provide for her and her siblings, but being forgotten, even accidentally, hurt. A look of determination crossed Trixie’s face.  


“You know what?” she asked Rick, “I changed my mind! Let’s go home!”  


He smiled at her. “Alrighty then.”  


The cool air was striking after being in the hospital waiting room far too long for comfort. Things inside were hot and tense, but outside the air was crisp and almost felt too slow moving. Rick knew as soon as he was out that Trixie had been right about his jacket being ineffective against the temperature, but he didn’t complain. Instead, he told her, “Lead the way.”  


“Me?”  


He looked down at the befuddled Trixie with an amused laugh. “Yes, you! I don’t know where you live.”  


“Oh. Yeah, I guess not,” she stated, more to herself than to him.  


She hadn’t ever gone home from the hospital alone before, especially never walking, but she had lived in Sweet Jazz City her whole life. It would be a breeze! She picked the direction that seemed right, and started walking, Rick following behind her. Down a few blocks she turned, and then went down further and turned again, thinking she had seen a familiar street. They both stopped as Trixie glanced around. She could only see things that were vaguely etched in her mind. No, this was the wrong side of the city. Maybe. “Okay, this street name is one I know,” she thought, walking down Ivy Lane. She wasn’t sure where she’d remembered it from, but she did, and that’s all she cared about right now. Her legs were getting quite tired after all the walking, and the sun was low on the horizon, but she only yawned and kept walking.  


As if he’d read her mind, Rick asked, “You getting tired kiddo?”  


Slowly, she nodded.  


“Here,” he offered, scooping her up to her surprise. “Just tell me where to go.”  


She pointed to where she thought looked right. “There.”  


The sun was now just a sliver of red and orange along the ground. The big building began to thin out and Rick was filled with hope that they were now close to where Trixie lived. She had fallen asleep as he carried her, so he shook her awake.  


“Huh?” she wondered tiredly.  


“Are any of these your house?” he asked.  


Trixie scanned the area. None of these houses were hers. This wasn’t even her neighborhood. “N- no,” she answered, her voice wavering.  


“We can check a block down,” Rick suggested.  


Trixie shook her head as a wave of heat passed over her from no where. Trixie grimaced. “No. I mean. This isn’t right.” Tears began to pool in her eyes.  


Rick frowned as he noticed her tears. “Is everything okay?” Obviously not, but better to check than assume.  


“I don’t know where we are!” she admitted, warm tears spilling down her cheeks, “I just wanna go home!”  


Very surprised eyes watched the whole scene go down from the window of the house in front of the two. For this house was the house of none other than Giovanni Potage. Giovanni was quite shocked to see the bizarre sight of the young man comforting the girl in his arms that had just burst into tears. In fact, squinting, that girl kind of seemed familiar. Purple sweater, pink hair, he did know her! It was Trixie, one of Molly’s best friends, and his little cousin.  


Giovanni dashed out of the house, with his Soul Slugger Doom Bat at his side. “What are you doing?” he shouted as he burst out the front door.  


Rick yelped when he saw the bat, but Trixie’s cries turned to relieved sobbed as she noticed who she was. Leaping out of Rick’s arms, she ran towards him with a delighted, “Giovanni!” She hugged him tightly, garbled speech leaving her mouth as she tried to explain the situation to him.  


Giovanni couldn’t understand her trough her tears. “What did you do to her?” he screeched, pointing an accusatory Soul Slugger Doom Bat at Rick.  


Rick threw up his arms in surrender. “Nothing! I swear!”  


“No, no!” Trixie exclaimed, finally comprehensible, “He didn’t do anything!”  


Giovanni glared at Rick, then lowered his baseball bat. “What happened?” he asked Trixie softly.  


“We’re lost,” she answered, “Could you take me home?”  


“Well, my moms have the car. It’s yoga night,” he explained, “But if you’d like to call your parents and get their okay, you can stay here for tonight.”  


“Okay, but I’ll need to use your phone.”  


“Go on inside, then. You know where the phone is.”  


“Thank you!” She smiled, and he could hardly guess that she’d been crying just minuted before. She hummed as she went inside the house.  


Giovanni turned back to Rick. “As for you, how do you know my little cousin?”  


“Look, I hardly know her. Just a lot of weird things happened today, and I think I almost drowned this morning? She just kept waiting for her parents, and I began to worry they weren’t going to show up, so I-”  


“You’re the guy!” Giovanni interrupted him suddenly.  


Rick blink. “What?”  


Giovanni didn’t look so apprehensive anymore. Instead, he looked pleasantly surprised, but also unsure. “You’re that Shades guy that Molly and Sylvie were talking about!”  


“Oh, you know them?” Rick asked, “Nice kids!”  


Giovanni nodded. “Look, I don’t trust you, but you seem nice enough, and Trixie seems to like you, so I’m not going to be mean. I have some questions, but we will do that later, since I have to get Trixie situated. Besides, she doesn’t seem to like my distrust of you.”  


“Questions? About what?”  


“What happened at the hospital between you and Sylvie. Not the professional stuff, that weird ‘you know him’ stuff.”  


“Look, I don’t know what the hell happened.”  


“Like I said, we’ll talk about it later. Just go home.”  


“Uh,” Rick trailed off, before finally agreeing, “Okay.”  


Giovanni gave him a long look. “Do you… Have a place to stay?”  


“Not really,” he admitted, “But I’ll find something to make do.”  


Giovanni sighed. “No, just stay at my place. My moms won’t mind.”  


“You don’t have to do that.”  


“I don’t have to let you stay out here in the freezing cold, either! Listen, you’re new around here, and the mornings feel nice and warm, I get that! But the truth of the matter is that no matter the time of the year here, it gets very cold at night. Like, you don’t want to stay out here in this weather, it’s a huge risk. So just get inside and don’t freeze to death.”  


Rick hesitated. “Alright.”  


\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  


“Uhg, that kid again!” Yoomtah spat from the rooftop across from Giovanni’s house.  


“You know him?” Moot asked, his red cloak bellowing around him in the wind.  


Yoomtah nodded grimly. “That’s Giovanni Potage, ex-banzai captain, and the start of this whole ordeal.”  


“You mean that’s the kid who stole the amulet?” Moot asked, his eyes widening underneath his shades.  


“Yeah, and then lost it again, too,” Yoomtah sighed, “It’s ours now, though. Those dumb police officers had nothing on me!”  


“So, in a way, he’s just a minor inconvenience?”  


“Minor inconvenience?” Yoomtah asked shrilly, “He’s basically indirectly responsible for Zora’s failure! That’s why she isn’t helping us right now!”  


“Boss says she’ll be back soon,” Moot pointed out.  


Yoomtah grumbled, “Who cares? I miss her…”  


“I understand, and I get that you like her, but I think you’re-”  


“Whatever whatever whatever!” She cut him off, “Let’s just do what we were sent here to do.”  


“You mean what you were sent to do and dragged me along to?”  


“You could have just stayed behind,” she reminded him, “But it was suddenly very important for you to come once I started to leave.”  


“You seemed mad.”  


“Gee, did I?” she asked sarcastically. She reached into one of her coat pockets and pulled out a small device with a blinking green light on it. “This small tracker is going to be our very best friend,” she told Moot, “We just have to get it onto him. Soon, he’ll be asleep, and then we’ll have out chance to strike!”  


Yoomtah cackled a bone-chilling laugh that managed to unnerve Moot. She leaped off the roof, and Moot flinched when she hit the ground, but she landed gracefully on her feet without swaying. He let out a breath of relief, and then dangled off the side of the roof and let go, landing on the ground much more safely but less nicely. “So why are we going over there now if we’re waiting for him to fall asleep?”  


Yoomtah sighed in exasperation. “To spy on them, of course!”  


“That’s not a part of the mission,” Moot pointed out.  


“Moot,” Yoomtah said pointedly, “We can do whatever we want, even if it’s not assigned. It’s called ‘free will,’” she added emphasis at the end. “Our assigned missions tell us what to do, not what we can’t.”  


“I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” Moot murmured.  


“What?”  


“Nothing.” Moot quickly covered up what he’d said, glad Yoomtah had not heard.  


Yoomtah made her way over to Giovanni’s house, moving in a way that was playful but stealthy. Moot did not have such skill or energy, but he knew how to avoid attention just the same. She ended up under the window of Giovanni’s room, where fervent whispers we barely audible from. “Now this is interesting,” she grinned.  


“You just appeared on the beach with no memories, surrounded by my friends, my cousin, and you just so happened to know a lot about one of them?” Giovanni muttered furiously.  


"I don't know, I don't know!" Rick whisper-shouted back, "And it wasn't only me, your buddy knew about me too."  


"Yeah, but I trust Sylvie."  


"I think you're letting your bias get the better of you."  


Yoomtah's brow furrowed as she listened to the conversation. "Things may have affected him more than we thought. Or less. I'm not sure which."  


Giovanni continued, "Bias? The only bias here is that I'm letting you stick around because Trixie likes you."  


"I'm grateful," Rick let him know.  


Giovanni scoffed. “You know what’s weirder?” he asked finally.  


“What?” Okay, this was starting to make no since. Rick didn’t even know this guy, but he seemed to distrust him for seemingly no reason. There were hardly any times were he found himself genuinely confused, especially by another person, but Giovanni had him absolutely befuddled.  


“I had a similar experience when I heard your name,” Giovanni admitted, “I didn’t want to say it out loud to the kids since they already were shaken up, but there’s something about you. You aren’t a great person, are you?”  


That caught him off guard. “Well, I suppose I wouldn’t know, but I think I’m a good person,” Rick defended himself.  


Giovanni sighed, sounding less angry, thankfully, but more frustrated. “I mean, you weren’t a horrible person, but you weren’t good either.”  


“So… Normal?”  


“No. I mean, nice, but not good.”  


“I don’t follow.”  


“Uhg!” Giovanni spat, “I mean you were a bad person, but you had your loyalties, you know?”  


Oh. Well, yes, he did understand. He didn’t like it very much, but as much as it made him uncomfortable, it felt right. Just like his name had. Just like every other memory he had regained had. “I get it,” Rick slowly answered.  


There was a moment of silence, and Yoomtah snickered from the other side of the window. That kid might as well be doing their jobs for them! It wouldn’t be hard to recruit Rick if he already thought he was a bad guy. Well, he sort of had been, but not this bad. Not like her and Moot. Not that she thought they were all that bad, honestly. She liked her job, and it seemed to be a pretty good cause in her opinion, despite the stigma Bliss Ocean had.  


“This is going to be easier than I thought,” she whispered to Moot. Moot pressed a finger to his mouth, the universal sign of ‘be quiet.’  


They heard the opening of a door, and a quiet voice neither she nor moot recognized. “Giovanni, I’m hungry.” Yoomtah just barely peeked over the window sill to get a glimpse of Trixie. Pink hair, purple sweater, glow stick necklace. Not easily forgettable characteristics. She ducked back down under the window, out of sight. A charge of electricity ran through Yoomtah like her excitement had just seconds ago.  


“You’re going to get us caught doing that!” Moot hissed through his teeth.  


“I can help it!” she hissed back.  


He sighed, feeling defeated. She couldn’t help it, yes, but she could also tone it down quite easily, she’s just too dramatic to do so. He also knows what it means when she’s that excited about something. “What’s your idea?” he asked.  


“Idea?” she chuckled softly, “Not an idea. At least, not yet. Just a…” She paused to find the right word, “A possibility."


End file.
